Go, and embrace your liberty. And see what wonderful things come of it. – Little Women

Dedication &Hard Work

A few weekends ago, I watched the documentary Sommon Netflix, which I highly recommend. In addition to the amazing things I learned about wine and the art of wine tasting ( did you know there are over 3,000 varieties of grapes in Italy alone?), the documentary was a really fascinating look at a group of individuals committed to one goal- passing the master sommelier exam.

The exam is an intense, three-part test that involves some hardcore training, if you will. The doc profiled four guys in their process to pass the test ( side note: where were the females in this doc?) which became their singular focus in life for months leading up to the exam. It was absolutely crazy to see the level of dedication, hard work, and sacrifice these people went through in order to pass a test.

It made me think– I don’t think I’ve ever been that dedicated to anything in my entire life. Sure, I have been committed to my career in the museum field since college, but don’t eat,drink, sleep museums. I don’t even schedule vacations or weekends around visiting them anymore ( this may be a sign of burnout?).

I think the kind of dedication and hard work seen in that documentary is the rare kind, but also to me, the amazing kind. To love and want something so much that you sacrifice parts of your life for it. It’s probably the same sort of dedication exhibited by Olympic athletes who are so focused on particular goal. It’s awe-inspiring, but I know it’s not me.

Ever since my divorce, I’ve spent a lot of time trying to figure out and celebrate what ‘me’ is. It’s not always easy work to do this kind of self-discovery but it’s kind of amazing to be able to say what I know I do or do not like, what I would or would not do in any situation. I don’t think I have that kind of obsessive? personality to be so singularly focused on one goal. I don’t say that because I’ve never had the experience with it, but watching that documentary or thinking about anyone who is hyper-focused on making an achievement, I don’t think that I could ever be that interested in one topic or goal, it’s just not who I am. I’m a curious person, a passionate learner, and my mind bops around to ten things within one conversation because of it. Maybe it’s a lack of attention span or maybe it’s just the sign of an interesting person ( I like to think the latter). I applaud those people and truly admire their dedication- they are rare finds in this world and I think it’s important for it to stay that way because if every single person was obsessed with one goal in life, I think we’d have a pretty uninteresting world to be living in.